Sriracha shortage panic? Don’t worry, there are options

Sriracha lovers had a near miss this week when a judge rejected a Southern California city’s bid to shut down production at the Huy Fong Foods plant.

Wire and staff reports

Is a meal without Sriracha worth eating? It’s a quandary that recently took on real and scary proportions for fans of the wildly — perhaps even weirdly — popular tangy Thai hot sauce.

Sriracha lovers had a near miss this week when a judge rejected a Southern California city’s bid to shut down production at the Huy Fong Foods plant. Residents had complained the sprawling 650,000-square-foot factory that processes some 100 million pounds of peppers a year into Sriracha two other popular Asian food sauces had a pungent odor that gave them headaches, burned their throats and made their eyes water.

“It’s like having a plate of chili peppers shoved right in your face,” said Ruby Sanchez, who lives almost directly across the street from the shiny, new $40 million plant.

The fight is not over. A Nov. 22 hearing was scheduled on a preliminary injunction.

If the spicy stuff is doomed, some local eateries would have to rethink some signature items. Jeff Wagner at Thatsa Wrapp in downtown Canton uses Sriracha as a base for one of his sauces.

“It’s too bad people are giving (Huy Fong Foods) a hard time,” Wagner said. “It’s a good staple that a lot of people use as a condiment.”

Wagner said he uses it at home, as well as in one of his most popular wraps, Some Like It Hot.

“If it disappeared tomorrow, people would be disappointed.”

Subway also announced it was launching “The Fiery Footlong” collection of sandwiches, which includes the Sriracha Chicken Melt and Sriracha Steak Melt.

Sriracha is a puree of ripe, red jalapeno peppers, sugar, salt, vinegar and garlic. But many similar sauces are widely available in ethnic markets, mainstream supermarkets or online. Most just haven’t enjoyed the same attention as so-called Rooster Sauce, as some people call Sriracha (for the rooster on the Huy Fong label).

Here are a few Sriracha alternatives that deserve their 15 minutes of fame.

SAMBAL OELEK

A chunky condiment of vinegar and lightly ground chilies, think of sambal oelek as Sriracha without the pureeing (or the garlic). Sambal delivers a big blast of heat, and works well on any food in need of spice.

“The flavor on it is very clean,” says Scott Drewno, executive chef at The Source in Washington, D.C., where he uses it in stir-fries, dipping sauces and dozens of other preparations. “You can use it hot, cold,” he says. “If the world didn’t have Sriracha, it would definitely be the next thing.”

GOCHUJANG

Drewno also is a big fan of gochujang, a Korean paste of chilies and fermented soy beans. Less assertive than other chili pastes, gochujang offers a salty, savory component similar to miso, with just a hint of heat.

“I use that rampantly,” Drewno says. “You get that umami, that depth, that haunting resonating flavor profile.” Drewno said he smears gochujang on grilled steak and other meats, or sometimes uses it as a marinade with rice vinegar, sesame oil and a pinch of sugar. It rocks as a rub for roast chicken, and does a fine job of adding depth and heat to chili.

CHIPOTLES IN ADOBO

Like Sriracha, chipotles are made from ripe, red jalapenos. The ripe chilies are picked, dried, then smoked to create chipotles. The dried peppers then are pickled in adobo, a tomato-based sauce spiked with vinegar, herbs and sometimes other dried chilies.

“They have that same wild mix as Sriracha, where it’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s tangy,” says Pati Jinich, author of “Pati's Mexican Table: The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking.” '”That’s what drives people crazy.”

In the United States, the Mexican condiment most often is found in cans, but Jinich says that in Mexico it comes in squeeze bottles, just like Sriracha.

Chipotles in adobo can be used directly on sandwiches, and in stews, soups and other dishes, Jinich says. Or they can be used to add heat and smoke to salsas. When nothing but the whole chilies are left, she says, remove the seeds, then puree them with mayonnaise, yogurt or sour cream (or perhaps cream cheese?) for a smoky-spicy dip or spread.

WEST INDIAN HOT SAUCE

The island nations in the Caribbean Sea boast many assertive peppers, such as habaneros and the famous Scotch bonnet, which is about 40 times as hot as a jalapeno. Ground with vinegar, spices and sometimes mustard, these chilies deliver a powerful punch as a sauce.

“Sriracha is overrated,” chef and cookbook author Allison Robicelli wrote in an email. “It’s good, but not even close to the best hot sauce on earth.”

Robicelli says she swears by Baron’s West Indian Hot Sauce, a product of St. Lucia made from Scotch bonnets, onion, garlic and mustard. “It was a game changer,” she says. “It was thick, like a robust marinara sauce, but instead of using tomatoes, they made it out of fresh Scotch bonnet pepper.”

DIY

As a last resort, you could always make your own.

“It’s not terribly difficult,” Lee says. Mustard is complicated. Mayonnaise involves raw eggs. But hot sauce requires only peppers, vinegar, sugar and whatever herbs and spices you favor. Fresh habaneros, jalapenos and other chilies can be found at most grocers. Ditto for many dried chilies. And hot sauce recipes abound on the Internet.

“If you were to lose Sriracha, people would go into a state of shock,” Lee says. “Then, like most good Americans, we would all become self-reliant.”